Is there a big difference between a GTX 280 and GTX 260 216?

Cannot decide whether to get the GTX 260 216 or a GTX 280. Dumping my pos 4870, so must not be slower.

 

depends on your resolution id say.
the upgrade is highly unlikely to be worth it imho.
maybe someone can give you a better answer on this.

 

Trust me, the drivers are so bad on this card I just want to get back to nVidia.

 

you have driver issues with the 4870?
I have to say so far i have heard nothing but praise from other users (myself included).
anything specific?

 

Get the 280 so you don't end up complaining again...

 

Yup, everytime a new game comes out there are issues. Farcry 2 stutter being the latest. No automatic profiles without making a shorcut for every single game. Fan speed is erratic in 2d and ramps up and down. AA cannot be forced through CP if it has in game and loads of times needs a exe renaming.

Please, lets not turn this in to ATI vs Nvidia. The card is junk imo, and I will not discuss it further.

 

I have been hearing so many great things about the 4870 and for sure the x2 version. Well the most bang for you buck hands down is the gtx260 with 216sp. The 280 seems great but I have seen in the new x58 sli 260 beat an 4870x2 so I would say it depends on your budget. I don't think I will ever go with the second best from nvidia ever again. I had a slew of issues with my 8800gts 96sp and my 112sp sli versions. I think I am going with the 280 because look at the life the 8800gtx has had!

 

As mentioned depends on the res and the game, seeing as you're coming a HD4870 and want a noticable performance increase then the gtx 280 is probably the better choice.

 

I was just on the egg and saw that the evga 260 216 is selling for $290 and the 280 is selling for $420. Is the few fps worth the $130 difference. In the latest vga charts for the x58 the difference isn't that great most I saw was about 7 fps in far cry 2 sli. At over $18 a frame I am kind of starting to rethink that 280 purchase.

 

I bought one just to see how bad it was (at bestbuy so i could use it and take it back and get my money back lol) and yes the ATI drivers are utter crap. The card may perform good, but when theres an nVidia card that performs the same or better (216) that does not have driver issues, youd have to be a fanboy to buy the ATI, unless it was significantly cheaper.

 

well jeez you clock up the 260 216's and it should be,as fast if not faster the the ati card with pos drivers.
btw i totally agree with op and armyguy

 

GTX 260 216 easily OC's...OCed 260 beats a 280. Stock 280 beats a 4870.

GTX 260 216>4870. The 280 is really not worth the extra money for the +1-8fps... unless you have mass amounts of
$ lol, in that case pick me one up too. =p

EDIT:

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/xfx_gtx260_black/6.htm

the OC'ed gtx 260 216 is on the very right...beating every card across the board except the 4870x2 which wins by a few FPS.

 

a little off topic but I am thinking of upgrading too but wondering whether I should wait for the 55nm refresh aka the GT206. does anyone know when that comes out?

 

dude buy the 280GTX you won't regret it, ROFL 260 is just inferior, face it.

 

New Egg had BFG GTX280 OC for $359.99 after MIR, TD has it for $349.99 after MIR, both come with free FC2 after you register the cards.
This is a great deal.

 

Wow, good link! That has certainly got me thinking! I wont be overclocking at all, so what do you think? I can get this car for £217, whereas the 280 is like £110 more!

 

Well dont sit thinking there's a noticable difference between the GTX 216 and the GTX 280 !
Well ofcourse the 280 is a more powerful card , surly only a real time comparision well be the best judge of that but the 216 is damn fast , fast enough that it comes equal on benchamrks in many places..

 

People who say there is no noticable difference between the gtx 280 and gtx 260 core216 are either kidding themselves or play older games at low res, keep in mind the gtx 260 you see in most reviews is factory overclocked and in most cases this means it'll only overclock a little more as most gtx 200 cards have a sweet spot of 700-715mhz on the core, so once you start to overclock the gtx 280; it'll be alot faster.

The real question is whether it's worth paying 30-40% more for a 15-20% performance increase.

 

I think that is the right question to ask. Is in the case of far Cry 2 is 7fps worth $260?

 

I recommend the GTX 260 216 for it's superior performance per dollar value. The 280 just doesn't pull ahead that far to merit the increase in price.

Also SLI 260's have shown beat the 4870X2 repeatedly in almost all tests, so that would be a smarter buy than the 4870X2. Not to mention the new 55nm GT200 refresh will soon hit the market with the new GX2 based on the 280 and 260. Then by mid 09 they are supposed to shrink the process to 45nm, talk about overclocking.